Process of producing yarn



Psa-tea oef. is, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT i for-FICE JAMES LOUIS LOHBXE, F MOYLAN-ROSE VALLEY, AND HENRY E. PERBLY, 0l'

y IBBYN HAWR, PENNSYLVANIA PROCESS OF PRODUCING YARN 'Application med February 18, 1980. Serial No. 9,288.

The resent invention relates to a process of pro ucing yarn from so-called endless or continuous textile ibers.

Hitherto, yarn has been manufactured from such endless or continuous fibers, whether natural or articial, by two general types or classes of processes.

In one of these types, a relatively small group of such ibers is brought together in l0 substantially parallel relation to form an endless or continuous, ine strand which is carried through the various steps requisite, according to the specic process emplo ed, to convert it into a yarn in which the fi ers are present in endless or continuous form and are co-extensive in length with the yarn, only a slight tolerance or accidental breakage of the fibers in handling being permissible. The number of such fibers handled seldom, if

90 ever, at any stage exceeds, and in some of such processes is often at cert-ain stages less than, the relativel small number in a crosssection of the finis ed yarn. Processes of this type, of which the reeled (natural) silk processes and the so-called denier rayon or artilicial silk processes are well-known examples, are very delicate, present may practical difficulties, involve considerable waste, and must be carried on with great exactness and a I0 high degree of skill in order to produce a high-grade product. As a result, the cost of production is relatively high.

In the manufacture of arn by processes of the other type above re erred to, a multiplicity of the endless or continuous fibers are brought together in substantially parallel relation to form an endless or continuous, relatively large sliver (having iii cross-section many times the number of fibers present in a cross-section of the yarn to be produced therefrom), and the continuity of the original sliver, as well as the substantial parallelism of the fibers thereof, is thea destroyed by suitably cutting Aor chop- 5 ping the sliver into short lengths to reduce the fibers to what are known as staple fibers. These staple fibers are made into a sc-called spun yarn by being subjected to substantially the steps involved in carding,

'o combing and spinning other staple fibers,

such as the well-known steps employed in producing worsted yarn or cotton yarn. Such s teps are numerous and, for instan, according to the worsted method, usually comprise the following:

Cutting Pickering Carding Gilling Combing Finishing girst lin v econ gillin Third igilling g 'First rawing Second drawing Third drawing Finishing Reducing Rovin Spinning Reeling. Because of the total number of operations required and the labor and machinery involved in carrying them out, the production of yarn from endless or continuous fibers by processes of this second type (of which the spun rayon process is a well-known example) is also relatively complicated and eX- pensive. There is, moreover, considerable resulting waste of material.

An object of the resent invention is to rovide a new type o process for the manuacture of yarn from endless or continuous textile fibers, which possesses important advantages over processes of each of the types above referred to, and which makes possible the production of a high-grade yarn at 'a relatively low cost.

Another object of the invention is to provide a process which consists of but few steps,

which obviates many of the diliculties of and objections vto the processes heretofore employed, and which substantially reduces waste of'material.

A further object ofthe invention is to provide a process which may be practiced with a minimum of labor and machinery and in which well-known or standard textile machines may be employed with but slight, if widely varied as found expedient according any, modifications.

A still further object of the invention is to produce a yarn which has an even and uniform character, which is substantially free from slubs and nibs, and which, if the fibers are lustrous, has a high degree of lustre.

The various features of novelty which characterize our invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specificatmn. For a better understanding of the invention, however, and the advantages possessed by it, reference should be had vto the followin descriptive matterl l and' accompanying .rawing,'inwh.hswe-have described and lllustrated one embodiment of our invention.

The drawin illustrates diagrammatically one manner o carrying out a step of our invention.

Our process is applicable to fibers of artificial silk, artificial wool, artificial cotton and other artificial fibers which may be produced in endless or continuous form, and also .to real silk and other suitable natural fibers.

The terms endless and continuous are used herein not to indicate a loop form without actual ends, but to indicate an uninterrupted or unbroken form for a relatively long or indefinite length.

According to our invention, we make an endless or continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially endless or continuous, conventional fibers brought together -or combined in substantially parallel relation. The individual fibers are referred to as substantially endless or continuous since it is not necessary that they correspond in length with the sliver, a Wide variation in breakage being permissible, with our invention, as long as the contlnuity of the sl1ver 1s maintained. However, it is desirable to have thefindividual fibers co-extensive with the ,sliver as far as possible, as this facilitates the formation of -the sliver and insures its uniformity. Such a sliver may be produced in any well-known or suitable manner, as 'by ouping a multiplicity of individual fibers xrom one or more spinnerets, in the case of artificial fibers, or by reeling together a multiplicity of natural fibers. The sliver is relatively large, that is, is composed of many times' the number of fibers to be present in' a. :cross-section of the finished yarn. For reasons hereinafter indicated, the sliver-is usually, although not necessarily, composed of a smaller number of fibers than the original sliver ordinarily used in the spun rayon process and other processes ofthe second type above referred to. We find, for example, that a sliver composed of approximately 2500 fibers is usually a convenientsize when using,

for instance, fibers of rayon, but -it is to be l understood that the size of the sliver may be parallelism and the continuity and uniformtheir length and a considerable tolerance forv to the particular conditions involved in any specific application of the process, such as the nature of the fibers, the number of the steps described below to be employed in carrying out the process, and the character of machines to be used.

The continuity and uniformity of the sliver and the substantial parallelism of the fibers thereof are not destroyed as in the spun rayon process and other processes of the second type above referred to,but are taken advantage of', in our process, in' the production Aof the yarn. This 1s an important feature of the present invention.

We reduce the substantially endless or continuous fibers composing the sliver to relatively short lengths, (i. e. to staple fibers), while maintaining both their substantial 5 8 ity of the sliver, and in the same operation or by one or more subsequent operations, draft l (that is, attenuate and draw down to smaller size) and twist the sliver to produce therefrom a so-called spun yarn of the desired size and weight.

These operations may be carried out in any suitable manner. One manner-and that which we now preferis as follows:

The sliver of substantially endless or continuous fibers is suitably passed through two sets of. rollers, as illustrated diagrammatically, for instance,in the accompanying drawing. While there may be any suitable number 'of 'rollers in each set, we have shown in the present instance three rollers A in the first set, and two rollers B in the second. The rollers A are the feed rollers and the rollers B the delivery rollers. The rollers of the respective sets travel at the same surface speed, but the surface speed of the deliver rollers is greater than that of the feed ro 1ers.

In starting the sliver through the rollers the advancing end thereof should preferably be uneven, that is, with the fibers of varying lengths or having, what may be termed, staggered ends. If necessary, the ends of the fibers may be suitably broken or cut to prov duce such a condition. As the sliver then passes through the feed rollers toward the delivery rollers the longer fibers are the first to be nipped by the latter, and are thereupon subjected to tension due to the fact that the surface speed of the delivery rollers is faster than that of the feed rollers. By suitably 12? regulating such relative speed, the tension is rendered sufficient to break the portions of the longer fibers stretched betwen the sets of rollers, at points of natural or inherent weakness. The next longest fibers are then nipped and broken, and so on, the fibers being broken at different intervals in a haphazard manner fas the sliver progresses and new staggered ends being thus formed which in turn are nipped and broken so that the breaking reuniformity or evenness of the sliver and, what is also important, without destroying the substantial parallelism of the fibers. The length of the relatively short fibers reduced is determined, within limits, by t e distance between the sets of rollers or, as it is known in the art, the ratch, and by adjusting or setting f the ratch the length of the staple fibers may be varied to suit the particular drafting and spinning steps to be thereafter employed and v feed rollers, not only effects the staggered' the machinery to be used therefor.

As the sliver passes through the rollers, the tension produced by having the delivery rollers running at a 4faster speed than the breaking of the fibersbut also drafts the sliver as it is converted into fibers of short lengths,

so as to pull the sliver out or elongate it and draw it down to a smaller size having in its cross-section a fraction of the number of fibers composing the sliver in its original form. The extent of the drafting or drawitng may be varied, as required in any given in.

stance,'by regulating the relative speed of the rollers as iswell-known in the art. For 1nstance, in drafting a sliver of approximately say, from 5 to 6 times the surface speed of the feed rollers, but this is merely referred to by way of illustration andnot by Way of limitation.

When the sliver of substantially endless or continuous fibers has been both reduced to short or staple fibers, and drafted, the resultingsliver is not only endless or continuous and has the short fibers arranged therein in substantially parallel relation, but it also retains the practical uniformity or evenness Which characterized the original sliver.

Hence, in and by a single step of drafting the sliver, we obtain the resulting sliver which may be readily transformed into a yarn, Without the necessity of subjecting the 4 short or staple fibers produced to the numerous steps required in the spun rayon process and other processes of the second type above referred to, to produce a sliver of corresponding size andcharacter. The elimination of 'these steps is obviously advantageous since it effects a substantial economy in the cost of manufacturing. Furthermore, the :vaste of material, which With these steps is considerable, is reduced. Then, too, the scarring or mangling of the surfaces of the fibers which is incident to carding, combing and other of the steps eliminated, is obviated with the result that the bers maintain more duce the yarn.

nearly their original -superficial condition and, 1f lustrous, have their lustre preserved to a higher degree.

The resulting sliver may, under certain circumstances, be twisted in any well-known or suitable manner to form a yarn directly therefrom. This depends upon the size of the original sliver, the extent to which it has been drafted, and the size and weight of yarn desired. Where the resulting sllver is too large or heavy to be converted directlyinto the desired yarn, it may be suitably twisted or otherwise formed into a roving which in turn is reduced by being further drafted and twisted through one or more stages to pro- The yarn produced has an even or uniform character and is substantially free from slubs and nibs. It may be either Aused as a single yarn or, if desired, formed into ply yarn, as is well-known in the art. The finished yarn is put up in any form desired by the trade, such as reeled in skeins, wound on cones, or the like.

It will thus be seen that our process considerably simplifies the production of socalled spun yarn from substantially endless or continuous textile fibers, eliminates many of the steps required in the processes of the second type now employed in the production of spun yarn, and possesses many other advantages including the production of a highgrade of yarn. Moreover, our process is less delicate and presents less difficulties than processes of the first type and produces a yarn whichis more desirable for certain purposes. It is to be noted, too, that in our process there may be considerable tolerance for breakage of the individual fibers composing the original sliver Without detraeting from the quality of the finished yarn, while in processes of the first type little, if any, tolerance is possible without directly affecting the quality and value of the yarn produced.

Our process may be practiced with substantial economy and with a minimum of labor and machinery. While special machines may, of course, be employed, the process is adapted to be carried out with well-known or standard textile machines, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, the breaking of the fibers and drafting of the sliver may be performed on a finishing frame, a reducing frame, a roving frame or a spinning frame, such as employed in the manufacture of worsted yarn, these machines being merely mentioned by way of illustration, and a particular machine being femployed according as found most suitable `under given conditions. Moreover, the resulting sliver may be twisted in the same machine to produce a. yarn directly therefrom where this is appropriate. Otherwise, the further drafting and the subsequent twisting may be carried out on conventional machines for performing such steps in the manlll ufacture of worsted or other staple ber yarn. The same may be said of the winding, reeling, or the like, of the yarn produced. It is to be noted that the size of the original sliver to be used depends u pon the machinery to be employed in breaking the bers and drafting the sliver, the amount of draft, whether or not there is to be further drafting, and the size of the yarn to be produced. It is because of the rst of these factors that the original sliver, when it is to be brokenv anddrafted on conventional. textile machines, is usually of somewhat smaller s1 ze than the original sliver ordinarily used in the spun rayon process and other processes of the second type above referred to. If the size of the original sliver is too great to be readily handled on a particular machine to be so employed, the machine may be subjected to excessive strain and/or may fail to effect a positive and rapid breaking of the fibers.

The original sliver is usually wound 1n a ball or on a spool, or collected in a suitable container or otherwise put up in untangled condition so that it will pay out readily when subsequently used in our process: But this may be, of course, unnecessary, 1f the production of the sliver is followed by the steps of our process, in a continuous sequence.

In inserting the end of the sliver in the rollers it is not believed to be absolutely necessary that it be uneven or have its fibers with so-called staggered ends, since there may be, at least in certain instances, sufficient irregularity in the breaking of the fibers to maintain the continuity of the sliver. I-Iowever, such an uneven end is desirable because it puts less strain on the machine, and minimizes slippage and also possible irregularity of the resulting sliver at the start.

While we have set forth above the details of one embodiment of our invention, it is not limited thereto, but may be practiced in other forms, and With other forms of apparatus. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing the bers to staple fibers while maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver.

2. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous, practically uniform sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing the bers to staple fibers while maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity and practical uniformity of the sliver.

3. In the process of producing arn from a continuous sliver composed o a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, progressively severing the fibers at intervals throughout the length of the sliver to reduce them to staple bers While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver.

4. In the process of producing arn from a continuous sliver composed o a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, severin the fibers to produce uneven or staggere ends, and repeating such severing at intervals throughout the length of the sliver, to reduce the fibers to staple fibers While maintaining ltheir substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver.

5. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous fibers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing the bers to staple bers While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, and simultaneously drafting the sliver.

6. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous fibers grouped in substantial parallelism, applying tension to successive portions of the fibers and thereby both progressively breaking the bers into staple lengths While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, and drafting the sliver.

7. The process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, which comprises reducing the bers to staple fibers While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, drafting the sliver, and twisting to form a roving or yarn.

8. The process of producing yarn which consists in making a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous fibers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing such fibers to staple fibers while maintaing their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, and drafting and twisting the resulting sliver.

9. The process of producing yarn which consists in making a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially contin'uous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, severing the bers to produce uneven or staggered ends, repeating such severing at intervals throughout the length of the sliver, to reduce the bers to staple bers While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, and drafting and twisting the resultin sliver.

10. The process o ,producing yarn which consists in making a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial parallelism, applying tensionto successiveportions of the fibers and thereby both progressively breaking the continuous fibers into staple lengths While maintaining their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, and drafting the sliver, and forming from the resulting sliver a yarn.

11. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous bers grouped in substantial'parallelism, reducing the fibers to staple fibers While maintaining both their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, by breaking the ibers in haphazard manner at points of natural Weakness into irregular staple lengths.

12. In the process of producing yarn from a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous, conventional, artificial textile fibers which are grouped together in substantial parallelism and which are .not intentionally weakened, reducing the fibers to staple fibers While maintaining both the substantial parallelism of the fibers and the continuity ofthe sliver, in and by asingle step of drafting the sliver.

18. In the process of producing yarnfrom a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous, conventional textile fibers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing the fibers to staple fibers While maintaining both their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, by breaking the fibers in haphazard manner at points of natural Weakness `into irregular staple lengths, in and by a single step of drafting the sliver.

14. In the process of producing yarn from o a continuous sliver composed of a multiplicity of substantially continuous, conventional fibers grouped in substantial parallelism, reducing the fibers to staple fibers While maintaining both their substantial parallelism and the continuity of the sliver, solely by passing the sliver through drafting rollers.

In testimony whereof, We have signed our names to this specification.

JAMES LOUIS LOHRKE. HENRY H. PERRY. 

